Thousands of volunteers to undertake projects nationwide for Arab American Service Day

Service Day to include dozens of Arab American-led projects from school makeovers to beach clean-ups

DEARBORN, Mich.—National Arab American Service Day will bring together thousands of volunteers from across the country on May 14, 2016, to tackle service projects that meet their communities’ and neighbors’ needs.

Arab American Service Day, now in its 12th year, is a project of the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), which is a program of ACCESS, the largest Arab American community nonprofit in the U.S. Service Day is an Arab American-led initiative that includes thousands of volunteers and dozens of projects across the country from planting trees and beach clean-ups to serving the homeless and renovating a public high school. Annually, over 2,000 people in communities from New York to California, and from Texas to Illinois, participate to give back to their neighbors and local communities.

“National Arab American Service Day is truly representative of the Arab American community—a community committed to giving back through service and to building bridges with our neighbors,” said Rachid Elabed, ACCESS Community Engagement Specialist and Service Day coordinator. “While each city has organized a unique project, and established their local partnerships, they all have one thing in common: organizations are responding creatively to community needs.”

WHO: National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC)

WHAT: National Arab American Service Day (over 2,000 volunteers participating in almost 20 Arab American-led projects across the country)

National Arab American Service Day is about fostering a culture of leadership and community engagement through service and volunteerism. Under its motto of “Serving Communities, Connecting People,” Service Day brings together diverse groups and individuals for one shared goal: responding to their community’s needs. As a project of NNAAC, Service Day has engaged more than 12,000 volunteers for hundreds of service projects since 2005. For more information, visit http://www.nnaac.org/serviceday.

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About the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC)

The National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), a program of ACCESS, is a national consortium of 25 independent Arab American community-based organizations. Its mission is the development of Arab American community-based nonprofit organizations that understand, meet the needs and represent the concerns of Arab Americans at a local level while collectively addressing those issues at a national level. NNAAC leads the Campaign to TAKE ON HATE, a multi-year, grassroots campaign that strives to address issues of bias and challenges the growing discrimination and persistent misconception of Arab and Muslim Americans, including refugees.